Costumed guests will celebrate all things anime with celebrities, music and performances

Tora-Con 2015, the 11th annual convention put on by the student-run Anime Club at Rochester Institute of Technology this Saturday and Sunday, will feature comedians, voice actors from anime productions, live performances and a sold-out pre-registration of 2,500 guests—half of whom are expected to wear costumes of their favorite anime characters.

About 150 volunteers will help coordinate events, which focus on anime, manga, Japanese culture, sci-fi and fantasy.

Tora-Con Chair Joe Archambault, a third-year applied networking and system administration major from New Gloucester, Maine, said he is very grateful to be able to use a large portion of RIT’s campus for the event.

“This year, we are using the Gordon Field House, Clark Gym, the Student Alumni Union, Campus Center, the Gosnell, Booth and Liberal Arts buildings, which gives us a wide variety of spaces to make Tora-Con possible,” Archambault said. “It’s a lot of work for us, especially as students, but we are immensely proud of the amazing event we are able to put on every year.”

Archambault said those attending will be a combination of RIT students, local residents and students from within an hour’s drive of Rochester.

“This is probably the largest student-run convention of its kind in the northeast,” he said.

Members of the community will host a number of presentations, with such topics as “Mob Bosses and Aliens: The Colorful World of Kazuki Akane,” “Star Trek Trivia,” “Hey, Let’s Talk About Pizza,” and “The Furry Fandom Panel.”